@MsRK wrote:
Actually, even after 2017 tax reforms, *CERTAIN* narrow types of attorney's fees can still be deducted above-the-line, particularly if the attorney's fees were part of an award/judgment pursuant to certain civil rights litigation (see https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2019/11/gross-recoveries/).
However, the IRS did indeed do away with the lines on Schedule 1 form 1040 to make those deductions straightforward, which they're now very messy. I recently received a judgment against a former employer for wrongful termination/discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, for which the court/judge specifically awarded attorney's fees in addition to back pay and compensatory damages (pain and suffering). However, the unscrupulous former employer then issued one 1099-MISC lumping everything together, including the attorney's fees that were paid directly to the attorneys pursuant to this civil rights claim.
The IRS no longer makes it straightforward as to how to list that "above-the-line deduction" for attorney's fees on 1040 Schedule 1, BUT NEITHER DOES TURBO-TAX/INTUIT. And that's what I'm struggling to figure out now...
Answered above. See my prior post of 4-8-2021 at 5:47 PM for how to enter that. That is not supported in the TurboTax interview but can be entered in the desktop version forms mode as I posted.
And IRS Pub 525 page 32 tells how to report it.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf
**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**
